Solid job gains: US economy shows strength

WASHINGTON: US employers created more than 200,000 jobs for the fourth straight month in May, showing the country can still muster solid growth despite the weakness in Europe and other regions. The US economy added a net 217,000 positions last month, nearly all from private companies, the Labor Department reported Friday. It took the total number of working Americans to a new high, surmounting for the first time all of the 8.7 million jobs lost during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. But there was still no progress in increasing the very low rate of participation in the workforce, which held at 62.8 percent, compared to 66% on the eve of the recession. That suggested that the economy still has far to go to reach full employment. Some 9.8 million people remained on the jobless rolls, slightly up from April.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2014.

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